Conspiracy (episode)
After the mysterious death of a distinguished Starfleet captain and the destruction of his ship, the Enterprise-D finds Starfleet Command acting erratically, with key officers possessed by alien neural parasites. Synopsis While en route to Pacifica, Picard receives a code 47 emergency message from Walker Keel, an old friend who is captain of the . Keel asks Picard for a secret rendezvous on the abandoned mining colony on Dytallix B. Picard meets with Walker and two other captains, Tryla Scott and Rixx, who, after confirming Picard's identity with a series of questions about his past, tell him about their suspicions of a conspiracy of some sort reaching up to the highest levels of Starfleet Command. Picard looks into the matter, having Data to review Starfleet directives of the past six months. While Data is reviewing the records, the encounters the debris of Keel's ship. In light of Keel's death, Picard tells Riker about the suspicions Keel voiced. During their conversation, Data enters and tells them what he has found: during the past six months there has been a great deal of "uncustomary reshuffling of personnel – usually in the command areas", and the new officers have had a great deal of contact with the highest levels of command. Data hypothesizes that the reorganizations are an attempt by a hostile force or individual to control important sectors of Federation territory. Faced with this information, the Enterprise returns to Earth. Upon entering orbit, the Enterprise is contacted by three admirals from Starfleet Command, requesting an explanation for their return. Picard states that he would prefer a discussion of that sort occur in private; the three admirals convene for a moment, then invite Picard and Riker to dinner at Starfleet Headquarters for the discussion to take place. Rear Admiral Gregory Quinn says that he will not be able to attend the dinner, but that he would like to see the Enterprise again. Just before he beams up, he looks at a scorpion-like creature he has in a case. When Quinn is on board the Enterprise, he bluffs his way through references to old times, and states that his earlier perception of a threat to the Federation was merely a metaphor for the "tumultuous process" of assimilating new races into the Federation. Picard realizes that Admiral Quinn is an impostor of some sort and tells Riker to observe Quinn closely and have Dr. Crusher give him a medical examination under false pretenses; after Riker reaches his conclusions, he is to join Picard on Earth. Picard then beams down and meets with Rear Admiral Savar and Vice Admiral Aaron, as well as Dexter Remmick. On the ship in the guest quarters, Quinn offers to show Riker the creature and tells him about it. It was discovered by a Starfleet survey team on an uncharted planet, and Quinn refers to it as "a superior form of life". When Riker says he'll get his science officer, Quinn grabs his arm very strongly, saying the creature will only like Riker. After a brief scuffle, in which Quinn displays amazing strength, Riker is knocked unconscious. When security arrives, Quinn says that Riker slipped and hit his head, and then announces his departure. When Worf and La Forge try to detain him, he throws La Forge through a door and similarly beats Worf before being phasered by Dr. Crusher. In sickbay, Crusher's scans show that Quinn really is Quinn, but she discovers a bizarre appendage sticking out of the back of his neck. On Earth, the two admirals try to subtly persuade Picard that there is in fact no conspiracy. Dinner is announced, so Picard takes a moment to contact Riker. Crusher answers on Riker's communicator, as Riker is unconscious. Crusher informs Picard that a parasitic creature of some sort has taken control of Quinn and all his brain functions. The spike at the back of Quinn's neck appears to be a gill, which is a helpful indicator of those who have been taken over by one of the creatures. Crusher states her doubts about removing the creature, believing it would kill Quinn. She instructs Picard to set his phaser on kill rather than stun, which has little effect on the creature or its host; Picard, however, has no phaser with him at all. Picard goes into dinner. The dish being served is a bowl filled with small living worms or caterpillars. Picard is disgusted, and realizes that everyone at the dinner has been infiltrated by the aliens. He gets up to leave, and runs into Riker. Riker has also apparently been taken over by the creature: he has a gill in his neck. So, too, has Captain Scott. The "conspirators" announce that they have known of Picard's intentions the whole time. They talk of their plan to infiltrate the Enterprise. Riker moves to eat, but instead he pulls out his phaser and shoots one of the diners. Riker tosses another phaser to Picard, and the two of them shoot their way out. As Scott and Savar are shot too, Aaron escapes, and Picard and Riker pursue and shoot him. Stunned, he falls to the ground, and the parasite infesting him crawls out of his mouth and under a nearby door. They follow it to find Remmick sitting in a chair. He turns to look at it, and the creature crawls up his body and enters his mouth. He swallows it, and it begins moving around in his neck. "We mean you no harm", he says, as his neck bulges in and out. "We seek peaceful coexistence". Picard and Riker shoot him with steady phaser blasts. The flesh is vaporized off his face, and then his head explodes. After Picard and Riker let up their phasers, a giant wound forms in Remmick's chest, and the mother creature erupts wailing from the hole. Picard, with a disgusted look on his face; fires at the creature with Riker following. The two Starfleet officers kill the mother creature, and all that is left of Remmick is his sizzling body and several dead creatures strewn about nearby. It is learned that all the creatures died when the mother creature was killed, but that Remmick had sent out a homing beacon shortly before his death. :The fate of those officers infested by the aliens after the death of the mother creature is unknown. Those shot by Picard and/or Riker may well have died, given the aliens' resistance to the "stun" setting. In his last log entry, Picard states that Admiral Quinn has recovered but makes no mention of the others, possibly implying they did not. Memorable quotes "It won't like your science officer. It DOES LIKE YOU! Vitamins... they do wonders for the body." : - Quinn "Friendship must dare to risk, Counselor, or it isn't friendship." : - Picard, on risking his career to follow up on Walker Keel's conspiracy theory "If I could see, I'd be seeing stars." : - La Forge, after regaining consciousness from being thrown through a door Background information Story concept art for a scene from the episode.]] Writer Tracy Tormé, adapting a story by Robert Sabaroff to The Next Generation, had hoped to make "Conspiracy" a commentary on the Iran/Contra Affair, but this potentially controversial notion was nixed. A plot by Starfleet officers out to undermine the Prime Directive (already introduced six episodes before in ), turned out to be the result of an infestation of alien insects, not part of Tormé's original approach. The original version of the script did not feature alien parasites; the conspiracy in question was simply a military coup within Starfleet. Gene Roddenberry vehemently opposed such an idea, since he believed Starfleet would never stoop to such methods; there was just no way Tormé could get away with suggesting that the Federation was anything less than a perfect government. Thus the alien angle was introduced at his insistence. On its first airing in the UK, the BBC cut several minutes of footage from the episode (most notably the death of Remmick). In addition, Space The Imagination Station, Canada's science fiction network, precedes this episode with a viewer discretion warning, the only The Next Generation episode to receive this. Indeed, the whole idea of the episode, its violence, and its unresolved ending caused quite a stir, but Robert Justman, Rick Berman, and Rob Lewin backed Tormé against the objections of Maurice Hurley, and the show stood pretty much as he had intended it, with the topical references subtly shoved under the carpet. Things would not go so well for writer Tormé in the future; he would be left with the feeling that, as far as creative freedom for writers, the second half of Star Trek: The Next Generation's second season was the best part of the series as a whole. Although the episode closed on a suspenseful note, no resolution has yet been seen. When the Borg were being created a year later, it was initially suggested that they in fact be the aliens from these episodes, a race of mechanical insectoids. (Trek: The Unauthorized Behind-The-Scenes Story of The Next Generation) According to Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion, the aliens and the homing signal the parasites began were originally supposed to lead in to what would become the Borg, who would be an insectoid race and the parasites be a first wave, but budgetary reasons made them into cyborgs instead. Continuity * This episode marks the first appearance of a Bolian. * The exterior footage of Starfleet Headquarters was recycled from ; as such, this episode is the only time a Tellarite appears on TNG. * When Data is commenting on the orders he has just read, the computer interrupts him by saying "Thank you, sir. I comprehend." This is the only time in all of Star Trek when a Federation computer speaks in the first-person narrative ("I"). The non-canon reference work Star Trek: The Next Generation Officer's Manual explains this by stating that the Enterprise computer was one of the most advanced ever constructed and was in fact self aware. * Amongst the logs reviewed by Data, the "Great Bird of the Galaxy" can briefly be seen. * This is the last appearance of the Starfleet Admiral's uniform which was seen through the first season of The Next Generation. The uniform, notable for its "triangle pip" insignia, was replaced in Season Two by an interim uniform which used the more familiar "boxed pip" insignia. By season three, the Admiral's uniform was changed again to become the standard which was used for the rest of the series. and Beta Quadrant star chart seen behind Remmick]] * A star chart featured in this episode, on the wall behind Remmick's chair, was created by the art department and shows several dozen planets and star systems mentioned in TOS and TAS. The star chart was re-used in many more TNG episodes and recently appeared in the of the Doctor Who spin-off series in the eponymous main character's attic. Characters * The opening credits to this episode include Denise Crosby's character, Natasha Yar. Yar was killed off and didn't appear regularly after . * Wil Wheaton (Wesley Crusher) does not appear in this episode. * During the dinner scene, Jonathan Frakes accidentally swallowed a few grub worms http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/community/chat/archive/transcript/1105.html Awards * This episode won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Makeup for a Series. Video and DVD releases *Original UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 13, . :Natasha Yar's face is obscured by shadow on the video sleeve, reflecting her death in the previous volume. *UK re-release (three-episode tapes, Paramount Home Entertainment): Volume 1.8, . *As part of the TNG Season 1 DVD collection. Apocrypha * The neural parasites have thus far never reappeared on-screen, but have been shown in a comic book taking control of a spacefaring species called the "Onglaatu" in a DC TNG story entitled "The Broken Moon!". * The parasites have also returned in Pocket Books' new DS9 series of novels. Several books in the "Mission: Gamma" series leading up to the novel Unity have revealed that the parasites are closely related to the Trill, and join with a host body in very much the same manner as a Trill symbiont does. They also reveal the Trill symbionts and the neural parasites have been fighting a long secret war, with several species worth of hosts and governments as their weapons against each other. The parasites' latest gambit has been the continued fervor for Bajor to join the Federation, for unknown reasons this would represent a great victory to their secret plan. * In the novel Worlds of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Volume 2, Trill & Bajor by Andy Mangels and Michael A. Martin, the parasites are revealed to actually be genetically modified Trill symbionts, created on the remote Trill colony of Kurl. A deadly plague had been killing symbionts, and the experiments were intended to develop a cure. However, the experiment failed, and the symbionts so affected became violent and xenophobic - the parasites - and swore revenge on Trill society for this disaster. Links and references Guest stars *Henry Darrow as Savar *Ward Costello as Gregory Quinn *Robert Schenkkan as Dexter Remmick *Ray Reinhardt as Aaron *Jonathan Farwell as Walker Keel *Michael Berryman as Rixx *Ursaline Bryant as Tryla Scott Uncredited co-stars *Majel Barrett as the computer voice *Brad Phillips as a command division lieutenant *Richard Sarstedt as a command division officer *Gary J. Wayton as a Starfleet security officer Stunt doubles *Tom Morga as stunt double for Jonathan Frakes *Unknown stunt performers ** as stunt double for Ward Costello ** as stunt double for LeVar Burton ** as stunt double for Michael Dorn References 47; 2364; admiral; adrenal glands; Altairian Conference; ; Andonian tea; blue gill; Bolians; code 47; Crusher, Jack; Delaplane; Dytallix Mining Company; Earth; frigate; governor; heavy cruiser; homing beacon; ''Horatio'', USS; Karapleedeez, Onna; Keel, Anne; Keel, Melissa; McKinney; Mira Antliae V ("Dytallix B"); Mira Antliae system; orbital shuttle; Pacifica; ''Renegade'', USS; sector 63; Sipe, Ryan; Starbase 12; Starfleet Command; Starfleet Headquarters; surveyor; Tau Ceti III; ''Thomas Paine'', USS; voice print identification Other references 47 references; Aldebaran; Alfa 177; Alpha Carinae; Alpha Centauri; Alpha Majoris; Altair VI; Andor; Ariannus; Arret; Babel; Benecia; Berengaria VII; Beta Aurigae; Beta Geminorum; Beta Lyrae; Beta Niobe; Beta Portolan; Camus II; Canopus III; Capella; Daran V; Delta Vega; Deneb; Ekos; Eminiar; Fabrina; First Federation; Gamma Canaris N; Gamma Trianguli; Holberg 917G; Ingraham B; Janus VI; ''John F. Kennedy'', USS; Kling; Kzin; Lactra VII; Makus III; Marcus XII; Marnak IV; Memory Alpha; Mira Antliae; Mira Antliae system; Mudd; Omega IV; Omega Cygni; Organia; Orion; Orion sector; Orion Sector Tactical Command; Pallas 14; Phylos; Pollux IV; Psi 2000; Pyris VII; rear admiral; Regulus; Remus; Rigel; Romulan Neutral Zone; Romulus; Sarpeid; Sirius; Sol; Sol Sector; Starbase 4077; Starfleet ranks; Talos; Tau Ceti; Theta III; Tholian Assembly; unnamed LCARS file starships; Unnamed Federation space stations; vice admiral; Vulcan; Zeon Log entries *[[First officer's log, USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D)#Mission to Earth|First officer's log, USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D)]] *[[Captain's personal log, USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D)#Mission to Earth|Captain's personal log, USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D)]] *[[Captain's log, USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D), 2364#Mission to Earth|Captain's log, USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D), 2364]] |next= }} Category:TNG episodes de:Die Verschwörung es:Conspiracy fr:Conspiracy nl:Conspiracy